No, finger prints develop around the fourth month of pregnancy in fetal development. One factor that leads to the pattern is environmental stimuli -- simply the baby touching the inside of the mothers womb, therefore, even with cloned individuals, the fingerprints would not be exactly the same.

Being a believer in the uniqueness of nature, I believe in the ability to identity images from sources in nature, such as animal muzzle prints. See the Journal of Forensic Identification, Vol.41, Nos. 4 and 5, July/August and Sept/Oct for "Ridgeology-Animal Muzzleprints and Human Fingerprints".

Once cloning of sheep occurred in Scotland, I was tempted to travel to Scotland and muzzleprint some cloned sheep. Also believing in the uniqueness of nature, I was confident the muzzle prints of each clone would be unique. I was also confident somebody else would eventually muzzle print the sheep. Which did happen. See "Cloned Sheep of Roslin: Muzzle Prints", Journal of Forensic Identification, Vol 50, No. 3, May/June 2000, pgs 276-288, by Kenneth Gill and Don Lock.

The variations in the formation of anything in nature is affected by the timing, sequence and intensity of so many influences that there is no logical expectation that anything in nature can ever be reproduced in its structure and formations. Nature will still be unique.

To expand on Ernie's last statement, "Friction ridge patterns will be unique to the individual," This fact really silences all inquiries into even the remote possiblity that two different areas of skin will ever display identical detail. What Ernie is eluding to, and what research has shown over the past 100 plus years, is that the developmental process of the en-utero formation of details within the fingerprint is so affected by even the most minute factors at that critical stage of development, that their random placement across the surface of the skin is entirely that... completely random. No two areas of skin will ever develop in exactly the same way. Not in two different individuals, or even in the same individual on two different fingers. The question of twins and clones makes for interesting discussion, but the details form on individual fingers at about the 10th to 16th week of fetal life. At this point, the fetus is already an individual. The fingers have already separated, and the details that make the fingerprints unique form where they do based on random stress and strains across each of those individual digits (and palms.) This is why even identical twins who share basically the same environment even have different fingerprints. Also, an interesting follow up to that sentence would be that clones who do NOT share the same environment would probably have fingerprint patterns that are not even as similar in appearance as those we seen in identical twins! But also realize when I talk about pattern, that is not the same as talking about individual detail. Many people have similar patterns. It's the detail within that is unique, and which will never be duplicated in any other area of skin... even in clones. Hope this expands on Ernies comments, and doesn't confuse.

This 'problem' has already been researched. Not with 'human' fingerprints, but with those of other cloned primates, monkeys. Lower order (non-human) primates have friction ridge patterns on their fingers, palms, soles and toes similar to those seen in man. Some primates that rely upon their tail as a prehensile digit (finger) also have patterns in the tail. Anyway, a study was conducted atthe Oregon Regional Primate Research Center in Beaverton, Oregon, in 1997 and reported in 'Fingerprint Whorld" (official publication of The Fingerprint Society, Vol 24, No. 91 in January 1998. The finger and palm prints of two cloned monkeys were recorded and compared by fingerprint examiners (Mary Brandon, Kathy Egli and Astrid Unander). Their findings, "these prints compared to each other similar but not identical". As the authors stated, "Nature has been nudged, but wisely did not flinch." Friction ridge patterns will be unique to the individual.

Ernie Hamm

rebecca

Posted on Tuesday, August 07, 2001 - 09:13 pm:

Would a clone of another human being have the same fingerprints? If so, what would that do to criminal investigations if we were to clone humans?

Add Your Message Here

Post:

Username:

Posting Information:
This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.